Jaxon Smith-Njigba already wrapped up the most prolific receiving season in Seattle history and is on pace to be the NFL’s first 2,000-yard receiver.
Smith-Njigba isn’t alone in putting together a season that could end in the record book with Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett closing in on the single-season sacks record after accumulating 13 in the last four games.
The calendar hasn’t even hit Thanksgiving and two NFL single-season records are in serious jeopardy of being broken.
Smith-Njigba had 167 yards receiving on Sunday against Tennessee to give him 1,313 in games this season. He broke D.K. Metcalf’s franchise record of 1,303 yards set in 2020 and has the third most yards receiving of any player in his team’s first 11 games. Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch had the most with 1,349 yards in 1951, followed by Charley Hennigan’s 1,327 in 1961 and Tyreek Hill’s 1,324 in 2023.
Smith-Njigba’s 119.4 yards per game are just behind Calvin Johnson’s 122.8 in 2012 when he set the single-season record with 1,964 yards receiving. But with a 17th game, Smith-Njigba is on pace to pass that record and become the first player to break the 2,000-yard barrier.
Smith-Njigba has put up those lofty receiving numbers despite playing for the only team in the NFL that runs on more than half its offensive plays. Smith-Njigba has accounted for 46.9% of Seattle’s yards receiving so far this season, a mark topped only four times since 1948 with the last player with a higher share coming 50 years ago when Ken Burroughs had 50.6% of the yards receiving for the Houston Oilers.
Garrett’s 18 sacks so far this season are the most by a player in a team’s first 11 games of a season, passing the 17.5 for Mark Gastineau in 1984 when he set the record with 22. Michael Strahan broke Gastineau’s record with 22.5 sacks in 2001 — a total that was matched four years ago by Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt.
Garrett needs just five sacks in his final six games to break the record. He has posted at least three sacks in three of the last four games with latest big performance coming when he brought down Geno Smith three times on Sunday in a win over Las Vegas.
The only player with more three-sack games in a season was Lawrence Taylor, who had four in 1986 when he won the AP NFL MVP for the New York Giants.
While Garrett is on a record-setting pace, he is behind what Reggie White did in the strike-impacted 1987 season. Teams played only 15 games that season with White missing three that featured replacement players. White had 19 sacks in his first 11 games that season and finished with 21 in 12 games.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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